Studying the Brain

Knowing what the different parts of the cortex do can be useful - it helps in the diagnosis and treatment of people with brain disorders and brain damage. Scientists use a few different methods to study the brain and figure out which bits do what:

1) Studying patients with brain damage - If a small part of the brain has been damaged the effect this has on the patient can tell you a lot about what the damaged part of the brain does.

2) Electrically stimulating the brain - The brain can be stimulated by electricity by pushing tiny electrode into the tissue and giving it a small zap of electricity. By observing what stimulating different parts of the brain does, it's possible to get an idea of what those parts do.

3) MRI scans - A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner is a big tube like machine that can produce…